Painting metallic silver - jambs then entire car?

Mike O'Meara · Mike O'Meara's Garage

On a glass-out bare metal repaint in metallic silver, I'm assuming that the jambs and under- and insides of doors and lids get painted first, then everything gets put on the car and the rest of the car is painted all at once in order to get the right "lay" of the metallic. Does this sound right?

dtw · 08-08-2005, 06:07 PM

How and where do you transition from jamb to quarter?

<-------Owner of soon-to-be-936 car

Zeke · 08-08-2005, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dtw
How and where do you transition from jamb to quarter?

<-------Owner of soon-to-be-936 car

Well, on a 2 stage job, the clear does that for you; you can open up the doors for the clear coat. On a single stage job, you just let the spray go in the gaps and rub it out after. Not much will go in there anyway. Not enough that you can't clean up anyway.

dtw · 08-08-2005, 07:18 PM

What about an ugly tape line on the basecoat, down the jamb where it transitions into the quarter? How is that avoided?

Zeke · 08-08-2005, 08:19 PM

What tape line? I let the base coat go in the gap, too, after "jambing" the car. Overspray on the base coat is negligeble and can be painted right over with clear. However, if you wish, you can "nub" it with a clean ScotchBrite before shooting the jamb with the clear.

Mike O'Meara · Mike O'Meara's Garage

Thanks much. After a year and a half I'm nearly ready for paint. I've done the body work and the priming, but I'll leave the paint to a pro, especially since it's a metallic color. I'll post a few more "before" pics in a week or two.

Series900 · 08-09-2005, 06:41 PM

Sorry, but the factory, and I , disagree. The 911 was always painted apart and reassembled. that is why the door hinge pins are not painted ,yet the bolts are. same for the hood and the rear deck lid, the hood has a drilled 1/8 hole for realignment, and the rear lid will maintain alignment by pulling the hinge pivot bolt under the engine sound deadning. When doing an overall on a 911, I always paint it apart, and subsequently, have no visible tape lines, my .02 and $10k.....

Zeke · 08-09-2005, 07:13 PM

Damon, I know and you know it can be done. But, we are talking about painting at home or in a shop by someone who doesn't paint that often. Metallics are tough to get just right when moving from part to part. Theoretically, one could paint a candy color that way too. However, it would take the best equipment in the best environment by the best painter to have all the parts eye match when painted separately.

For us weekenders, we are better off squirting the whole car when doing metallic.

lateapex911 · 08-09-2005, 08:12 PM

When I did my car, I did it apart, sa Damon outlined. But I think it's important to be sure your paint is mixed properly and consistantly, in a large enough batch, and that the parts be sprayed at the same time in the same environment. I did spray my trunk seperately, as the seal made for a gteat parting line, but I did the body and interior all at once. I followed up with the black areas after the color was down, as I thought it was done originally.

Mike O'Meara · Mike O'Meara's Garage

Damon, I appreciate your input, respect your experience and hoped you would comment. Your comments reinforce the evidence I've seen on cars that have original paint. The unpainted hinge pins are a dead giveaway. I guess I was asking if metallic silver was done differently because of the "lay" of the metallic and the notorious difficulty of matching silver. I will not be painting this car, it will be done professionally, and I'm just trying to get a feel for how the process will go. What I really need to do is choose a painter and get his take on how he wants to do it. If the bumpers and license panel are on the car when it gets painted, it seems to me that there will be areas that don't get good coverage unless they are left loose and hanging down with space between them and the fenders.